I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue - Radio 4 Panel Show - British Comedy Guide I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue Like this show BBC Radio 4 panel show that is the antidote to panel games. Broadcast, 1972 - 2016. Stars Humphrey Lyttelton , Barry Cryer , Tim Brooke-Taylor , Graeme Garden and others . Another series is in development. I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue Like this show See Also I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue Extremely popular radio comedy. ISIHAC is a self-styled antidote to panel games, in which players are given silly things to do × 66 Starring This show started out as a spin-off from the BBC radio series I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again . The idea being that I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue was an unscripted version of the original. ISIHAC is a parody of the traditional panel show, with games designed to humiliate and confuse. Points come for show's lovely (and fictitious) scorer Samantha.

Games include the self-explanatory "One Song to the Tune of Another"; mad word game "Cheddar Gorge"; "Sound Charades" (a game based on the TV show Give Us a Clue which differs in just three ways); "Word for Word", the opposite of word association; and the game based on the London Underground that is almost impossible to play - "Mornington Crescent". Legendary host Humphrey Lyttelton presided over the first 50 series. In the series that followed the host's death the role of chairman was handed over to Stephen Fry , Jack Dee and Rob Brydon . The trio took it in turns to present the show. Jack Dee 's episodes were generally the best received by the audience, and thus Dee has been installed as the new host. I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue: Vol. 14 Radio/TV Program | Iain Pattinson | Audible.com "It's not Humph, but Jack Dee is great!" We are fans of the "Britcom" on TV, and having spent a fair amount of time in the U.K. over the last 15 years, are BBC radio 4 listeners.

At the urging of British friends, we got into the Haven't a Clue series more than a decade ago. It is called the antidote to panel games,. Unlike radio in the U.S. there are a number of quiz and panel type shows on radio on BBC. The chairman for nearly 40 years was Humphrey Littleton, who was beyond delightful. After his death, we assumed that the show was gone forever. Wrong! The show consists of rounds of very silly things such as One Song to the Tune of Another, a personal favorite in our house, and Sound Charades, which can range from incredibly clever to just plain silly. Another fave is the Uxbridge Dictionary, where new definitions for common words are created. "Copulate---police didn't show up." Mornington Crescent is the one which gets the most applause from the audience. If you have never listened to this show, you must know that the whole game is a total fabrication, and in that lies the fun. It sounds really dumb until you just go with the flow. The show is not politically correct; the bias is certainly liberal, but hey, it's a silly show, so don't get up tight if you tend toward the more conservative, as we do.

Most everyone comes in for jokes on this show. Yes, sometimes it is rather off color, with plenty of double meanings thrown in. This, however is very common even in older shows. Humph, as chairman, had a very droll delivery, which made his bawdy comments sound oh, so innocent. Jack Dee's delivery is quite deadpan, which works. He was a guest on the show many times, and so has a familiarity with the format, and obviously loves it. We're so glad the Haven't a Clue is back with us, though there will never be another Humphrey Littleton. I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue: Anniversary Special : BBC : 9780563528531 Parodies & Spoofs About BBC I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue was first broadcast on Radio 4 on Tuesday 11 April 1972, with a pilot edition which had been recorded in November 1971 under a working title of I'm Sorry They're At It Again. The panel consisted of the show's deviser, Graeme Garden, alongside Bill Oddie, Jo Kendall and Tim Brooke-Taylor.

From the start, Clue's zany humour delighted listeners. Initial research revealed audience reactions such as 'teams were talented and amusing... an exceptionally fine quiz master - witty, relaxed and a good match for the teams.' One listener, however, complained that he 'hadn't a clue what it was all about' which, given the eventual title of the show, was perhaps an endorsement! The show's many years on air testify to its appeal, which owes much to the wit of the chairman, Humphrey Lyttelton. Humph, as he was affectionately known, was educated at Eton, and he trained at art college before joining the Daily Mail as a cartoonist. An ex-Grenadier Guardsman trumpeter, his reputation as a jazz player was legendary. The regular members of the panel - Tim Brooke-Taylor, Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and, until his untimely death in December 1996, Willie Rushton - formed a perfect comic quartet. Tim and Graeme previously worked together on I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again, the forerunner of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, whilst Barry and Tim appeared together on radio and television in Hello Cheeky.

Their wholehearted enthusiasm for such games as Tag Wrestling, Wuthering Hillocks and Cheddar Gorge ensures constant hilarity on the panel and in the studio audience. Of course, the best-known game of all is Mornington Crescent, whose rules have eluded and baffled listeners for years. Other highlights include the lovely Samantha, and Colin Sell at the piano - who, according to Humph, is about to complete his latest album: 'All he needs is the latest set of prints back from Snappy-Snaps...' Humphrey Lyttelton, broadcaster, musician, presenter and master of the double entendre, died on 25 April 2008. After a long and understandable break, Radio 4's antidote to panel games returned on 15 June 2009 for its 51st series. Stephen Fry, Jack Dee and Rob Brydon took it in turns to keep some kind of order, as they chaired this new series without the much-missed Humph, and later the same year Jack Dee took over as the regular host. The Official Stage Tour also continued in 2009 without Humph, with Jack Dee, Rob Brydon and others sharing the chairman's role.

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2012. show more Follow us If I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue is such a daring show, why won't they let a woman take the chair? | Sam Leith | Television & radio | The Guardian If I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue is such a daring show, why won't they let a woman take the chair? Sunday 14 June 2009 19.01 EDT First published on Sunday 14 June 2009 19.01 EDT Share on Messenger Close It isn't really a game, it isn't really a show, and its title begins with an apology. Yet I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue is our most enduringly adored radio gameshow. Imagine it happening in America. Imagine it happening on telly. The fact that you can't is all the more reason to rejoice this evening when I'm Sorry returns to the airwaves for the first time since the death of its chairman, Humphrey Lyttelton.

Will Self's very funny novel Great Apes imagines an alternative universe in which the world is run by chimpanzees who communicate in sign language. John Logie Baird is an ape who discovers radio by accident, after leaving the telly on in a cupboard. The joke fits perfectly into the world of I'm Sorry - and describes, to some extent, what the show does. Think of all those gags - the mute but unfailingly lovely assistants, the laser scoreboard - that rely on things that are as invisible to the radio listener as the rules of Mornington Crescent. Its funniness as a gameshow lies in its refusal to do anything a gameshow does (keep score, for instance), while its funniness as radio lies in it revelling in elements that don't work on radio (or shouldn't). Here is the radio pretending to be the telly left on in a cupboard. Such genre-twisting is central to the show's games. Sing this to the tune of that, introduce this character into that situation, read this death announcement in the style of that poet. One of the fascinations of I'm Sorry is the success it has made out of jokes that are all about their form rather than their content.

And the filth! All those gags about Lionel Blair finishing people off, or the lovely Samantha going off on a tour of the Lake District with a naturist gentleman friend, who wants to strip off at Keswick and Cockermouth. I'm Sorry draws a straight (OK, a suggestively wobbly) line between old-style music hall and Viz comic, via The Goon Show. For tonight's programme, that elite innuendo-ist Stephen Fry will be warming Humph's chair - a role he'll share over the series with Jack Dee and Rob Brydon. It's a sensible move, having Fry take over: he goes from one whimsical quiz show, QI, to another. But the tone here is different. Humph's angle of attack was that of a vague but irritable senior don noticing his shoelaces have come undone. Fry, as ringmaster on QI, plays a self-satisfied postgrad taming a boisterous bunch of smarty-pants. QI stands for Quite Interesting. It's a boast disguised as self-deprecation, while I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue is the apology of someone who knew, but has forgotten, a great deal. It's age versus youth.

I don't anticipate Fry or his co-hosts having much difficulty shifting gear, but we'll see. What's disappointing, however, is that all three of the new chairs are male - not least because it was in the context of her appearance on the show that Victoria Wood last week attacked other panel shows as "very male-dominated, because they rely on men topping each other, or sparring with each other, which is not generally a very female thing". Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News for You and Mock the Week are indeed gladiatorially competitive, in just the "testosterone-fuelled" way Wood describes. The panel shows where women more obviously thrive are the more lateral ones, Linda Smith and Sandi Toksvig on the News Quiz being obvious instances. I'm Sorry may be the antidote to panel shows, and far from laddish in style, but no more than a handful of female panellists have shown up in the three and a half decades of its existence. And the trio of men chosen to follow Humph has come despite the fact that panellist Barry Cryer expressly called for a female chair.

The truth is, surely, that I'm Sorry is a boys' club, too, and a rather old-fashioned one. Its world is hermetic, very English, and very male, all double entendres, sixth-form camaraderie, swannee whistles, imaginary saucy ladies and surreal word-play. So the contrast it presents to something like Mock the Week is intriguing: it's the common room of a 1950s public school, whereas Mock the Week is the bear-pit of a city trading floor. The latter, as the first word of its title suggests, is aggressively involved in the world; I'm Sorry keeps it at bay with whimsy. Perhaps the producers simply don't want to meddle with a winning formula. But men and women alike find the show killingly funny. Trying a woman in the chair is a risk that would surely be worth taking. And who better to start it off than Victoria Wood? I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, Volume 2 Radio/TV Program | BBC Audiobooks | Audible.com View full details > Often imitated but never bettered, I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue is the only authentic antidote to panel games.

This collection finds unflappable chairman Humphrey Lyttelton giving silly things to do to regular panelists Tim Brooke-Taylor, Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden, as well as special guests Stephen Fry and Rob Brydon. Highlights include old favourites such as One Song to the Tune of Another, 84 Chicken Cross Road, Sound Charades, New Definitions and of course the brilliantly baffling, fiendishly funny Mornington Crescent. I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, Volume 10 ORIGINAL (2 hrs and 38 mins) By BBC Audiobooks View full details > A bumper collection of classic fun and games from one of BBC Radio 4's best-loved and most enduring comedy panel games. The inimitable Humphrey Lyttelton is in the chair for these 36 hilarious editions, collected together for the first time. He presides over regular players Tim Brooke-Taylor, Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Willie Rushton, plus guests including Stephen Fry, Tony Hawks, Andy Hamilton, Paul Merton, Sandi Toksvig and Jeremy Hardy.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Primary Phase (Dramatised) UNABRIDGED (3 hrs and 56 mins) By Douglas Adams Narrated By Peter Jones, Simon Jones, Geoffrey McGivern, and others Overall View full details > This 13th collection of the antidote to panel games finds Jack Dee giving regular panellists Tim Brooke-Taylor, Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden silly things to do - along with special guests Jeremy Hardy, Sandi Toksvig, Rob Brydon and David Mitchell.

Highlights include ‘Uxbridge English Dictionary’, ‘One Song to the Tune of Another’, ‘Sound Charades’, ‘Historical Voicemail’, ‘Bankers’ Film Club’, ‘Sound Effects Storytime’, ‘Party Guests’, ‘84 Chicken Cross Road’, ‘Trail of the Lonesome Pun’, I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue: You'll Have Had Your Tea - The Doings of Hamish and Dougal 3 UNABRIDGED (2 hrs and 22 mins) By Barrie Cryer, Graeme Garden Narrated By Barrie Cryer, Graeme Garden Overall I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (Radio) - TV Tropes I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue You need to login to do this. Get Known if you don't have an account Share Radio / I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue × WMG The irreplaceable Humphrey Lyttelton note 1921ï¿½2008, it says something when all the other famous names in comedy have to go on rotation to fill in for you.... "For a show such as this to have lasted thirty years might be thought achievement enough in itself.

But to have brought joy and laughter to thousands of listeners ... might at least have been worth a try." —Humphrey Lyttelton, 30th-Anniversary special Panel Game (according to the introduction, "the antidote to panel games"note And according to Mrs. Trellis, "the antelope to panel pins") broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and the "classic radio" station BBC 7. Born in 1972, it was something of a continuation of the Sketch Show I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again (which was also the origin of The Goodies ). The main difference was that, as a panel game, they didn't need to write any scripts. The chairman was Humphrey Lyttelton, a jazz trumpeter (the thinking being that improvisational comedy owed a lot to jazz), who created the persona of a curmudgeonly Deadpan Snarker who would rather be doing something else. Anything else. The regular panelists for most of the show's history were Barry Cryer, Willie Rushton , Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden (the third Goodie, Bill Oddie, was in the first two series).

After Rushton's death in 1996, the fourth panelist became a rotating positionnote Jeremy Hardy usually appears once a series, and some of the more frequent guests have included Rob Brydon, Stephen Fry, Andy Hamilton, Tony Hawks, Paul Merton, David Mitchell and Sandi Toksvig. Because of the show's pedigree, and the fact that the regulars have the final say in who the guests are, being asked to appear on the show is seen as an honour (and many have turned down the opportunity for fear they might ruin it). Other people on the show include Colin Sell, the long-suffering pianist, and Samantha, the entirely fictional scorer, about whom many Double Entendres are made. On one occasion, Colin Sell's stand-in as duty pianist was veteran jokester musician Neil Innes , best known for the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band and The Rutles . Humph introduced him as 'a man whose royalty payments on "I'm The Urban Spaceman" have just run out', to which Innes responded with several bars of the Death March from Aida. While winning and losing is seldom an important part of Panel Games , ISIHAC views it as entirely irrelevant.

In one 1997 episode, Humph commented, "It's just occurred to me Samantha hasn't given us the score. Since 1981." It would be impossible to determine who won most of the games anyway, given that many of them don't make any sense, and the "Complete Quotes" round has the warning "points will be deducted for a correct answer". Most of the games are simply excuses for a Hurricane of Puns , but some have a surreality bordering on nonsensical. These include "Celebrity What's My Line? " (in which the panel has to guess what a celebrity does for a living), versions of board games and other quizzes (where the joke is that we need to see what's going on to understand it), and, of course the Great Game, Mornington Crescent (a game of complex and subtle rules which, to the uninitiated , sounds like people shouting out tube stations at random) and its boardgame cousin Boardo! (complete with rattling dice and clicking counters). There are also some musical rounds in the show.

While the most popular musical game in the early years was the "Blues" (where each team has to create one on the spot), the three most popular throughout most of the show's run are "One Song to the Tune of Another" (which is self-explanatory , although Humph thinks otherwise ), "Pick-Up Song" (where each of the team members have to sing along to a song which is muted half way through and still be in time with the lyrics when the sound is turned back up) and "Swanee-Kazoo" (where each team has to play a given song with a swanee whistle and a kazoo). There's usually a Running Gag at the expense of guest Jeremy Hardy whenever he's on the show as he's a hilariously terrible singer (which has extended to jokes about said singing even when he's not present ). The show has won three Golden Sony Awards, including one for I'm Sorry I Haven't A Christmas Carol, a Christmas Episode which cast all the regulars and guest panelists into a version of A Christmas Carol and somehow managed to force most of the games into the storyline. This was followed a couple of years later with Humph In Wonderland .

The future of the show was in doubt following Lyttelton's death in 2008, although Series 51 was aired in mid-2009 with Stephen Fry , Jack Dee, and Rob Brydon taking over the chair for two episodes each. The show returned to its regular schedule with Dee chairing every episode later that year. Although it has not been definitively stated that he is the full-time replacement, Dee has chaired every series since. In the 2015 tour of the live show, Sandi Toksvig took the chair for some dates. In 2012, the show's official site was launched, which can be found here . Rounds Ad-Lib Poem The chairman gives one line setting up a rhyme to a panellist. The panellist then continues the story in rhyming verse, until the chairman buzzes, at which point the poem passes to the next panellist, who does the same until an "artistic conclusion" is reached. Tim notoriously hated this round...which, of course, often led to him starting it off. Not played nowadays. The Bad-Tempered Clavier The teams attempt to sing a song while Colin Sell accompanies them.

Colin eventually begins changing the tempo, playing wrong notes, and playing different songs altogether. The chairman often mentions that points are deducted for players attempting to sing with their hands over their ears. Not played nowadays. Blues One team gives a subject for a blues to the other team. The other team then improvise a blues, with each panellist taking alternate lines. They inevitably start with "I woke up this mornin'". (Occasionally, Humph would specifically mention penalizing a team for starting a blues with that sentence, which inevitably resulted in "I rose from my bed as dawn began" or some other synonym.) Variations included 'Calypso' (always starting with "I [thing related to the topic] the other day") and 'Madrigal'. Used to be one of the most reccurring rounds, but is now rarely played. Call My Bluff The chairman gives the teams a word to define. The panellists then define the word, each giving different punning definitions. The chairman picks the one he thinks is true, we hear the sound of paper unfolding as the answers are revealed, and the game ends. Not played nowadays.

Censored Song The teams take a clean song and make it absolutely filthy by strategic censoring. Still pops up occasionally, but definitely not as common as it used to be. A similar idea had been used in I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again . Closed Quotes Also known as Quote Misquote and Complete Quotes. The chairman reads the beginning of a quote, and one of the panellist finishes it in a humorous fashion. Quotes are generally taken from all manner of things — songs, poems, interviews, classics, opening lines, and so forth. Still frequently played. Cheddar Gorge The teams construct a sentence, taking one word each, with the goal being not to complete the sentence. If the chairman judges that a full stop has been reached, he'll honk his horn (ever since Jack took over, this has been replaced by a gong). Occasionally, each panellist gets a word that they'll have to "seamlessly intergrate" into the story. Common ploys involve forming the sentence "and yet strangely" to force a player to describe something multiple times, or someone — frequently Tim — saying "comma" to buy time.

On at least one occasion, Humph made it even harder by adding an extra rule, that all the words had to start with the same letter. Nowadays, this is rarely played, being replaced with Letter Writing, which plays along the same principles with two major additions. One — instead of assembling a sentence, the teams are "writing letters" between one famous personality to another. The other team then composes a reply. Two — as you may have figured out, this is played in teams of two rather than both the teams saying words. This simplifies stalling, and someone — frequently Graeme — will often say "and" to force their teammate to come up with as many adjectives as they can. This version is still played frequently. DIY Drama The teams are given characters and sound effects, and then improvise a play from a given genre. Sometimes, the players are given free rein — other times, the chairman indicates scene changes or mentions which sound effects will have to be included beforehand. Very likely to go off the rails, and sound effects given to the panellists are pretty much guaranteed to pop up after the game's finished. One of the newer rounds, and played about once a series.

Double Feature The panellists combine the names of films to make puns. Really, that's it. Puns can be literal (such as Half A Sixpence , The Dirty Dozen and The Exorcist being combined to make Half A Dozen Eggs). The meaning of the title can be used rather than the words. (Such as 'Allo 'Allo! , BOOM! and Farewell, My Lovely combining to make A Short, Meaningless Relationship. Or Lord of the Flies and Flash Gordon combining to make Would You Mind Accompanying Me To The Station?) Then there are the truly magnificient puns, such as Barry combining Superman , Kelly's Heroes , The French Connection , Al Capone , Fantastic Voyage , X The Man With The X Ray Eyes , The Princess and the Pea , Nightmare Alley and The Duchess And The Dustman to make Superkellyfrenchaltasticexpeaalleyduchess . Used to be very popular, but the last time it popped up was in 1995.

Film Club The chairman gives a profession for a film club, book club, or song book, and the panellists make puns based on the profession, changing around the titles of films/books/songs in order to fit this particular profession. (Such as the bakers' film club — Bun Hur , Citizen Cake and The Last Temptation Of Crust .) Graeme invariably makes a pun on Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia . Still played often, usually as the closing game of the show. Good News, Bad News One panellist says some good news, the other some bad news related to the good news, and so on. ("Good news: I've got a new jacuzzi." "Bad news: It wasn't a jacuzzi when I got in..." "Good news: Jamie Lee Curtis was in it with me." "Bad news: But not for long.") Used to be quite popular, but has not been played since 1993. Historical Headlines The chairman says a famous historical event, and invites the players to come up with headlines.

This round typically plays on the different viewpoints of different newspapers — running gags include the Sport, with its focus on supernatural events and sightings of Elvis, the Daily Mail, with its obsession with house prices, the Evening Standard, with its concentration on London-centric news, and the Independent with its no-nonsense, fact-stating reports. Inevitably , Graeme will do a "The Guardian corrections and clarifications" joke, which poke fun at the Guardian's reputation for bad spelling by replacing a misspelled headline with an equally misspelled headline. (E.g. "Yesterday's headline 'bishops tickle Darwin's monkey theory' should have read 'bishops tackle Darwin's donkey, Terry'.") The last time it showed up was in 2008. Just A Minim The chairman gives one of the panellists a song which they must sing without hesitation, repetition or deviation . (The songs are always picked to make this as ridiculously difficult as possible, such as Old Macdonald Had A Farm or It's Not Unusual.) Other panellists may challenge at any time if they detect hesitation, repetition or deviation, and if the chairman judges that their challenge is correct, they take over from the point where the previous singer left off.

Takes its inspiration, rather obviously, from Just a Minute — Jack has taken to chairing the game using a caricature of Nicholas Parsons' energetic, enthusiastic speaking style. Still played occasionally, often as a substitute to Swanee-Kazoo. Karaoke-Cokey The entire audience get a song displayed on the laser display board, and have to hum it. The panellists attempt to guess what it is. In the live tours, each member of the audience gets their own kazoo for this round. Rarely played, but still pops up occasionally. Last Episodes The chairman gives the name of a TV series (or film, or book) to one of the panellists, and asks them to "finish it off as quickly as you can". The panellists typically do this with implications of violence, swearing, sex, puns, or other unbroadcastable material. (Such as Call My Bluff : "And your word is...(ting) ...oh my god!") Not played nowadays. Late Arrivals One of the most long-running games. The chairman announces a ball for a certain profession, and the panellists come up with names that are puns on this profession.

(Frequently taking the format of "Will you welcome, please, Mr. and Mrs. X, and their son/daughter, Y...") The Mad Scientists' Ball, for example, would have "Mr. and Mrs. Tube, and their daughter, Tess Tube" and "Mr. and Mrs. Tomicbomb, and their daughter, Anna". Graeme, if stuck for ideas, will make a "Gordon Bennett" note "Gordon Bennet" is an exclamation of surprise -based joke, such as "Mr. and Mrs. Bennettnotanotherflamingpartypoliticalbroadcast, and their son, Gordon". Was played in the first ever episode, and is still played occasionally as the closing game of the show, as a substitute for Film Club. Limericks The chairman supplies the first line of a limerick, and the four panellists improvise a line each to complete it. The order of who said what line was always moved, and there would always be four limericks, so that all panellists got the ending line once. Panellists would usually be applauded for avoiding obvious obscenities. Not played nowadays. Missed Hits Also known as Wuthering Hillocks.

The panellists name movies, songs, books and so on that didn't quite work, always puns on some existing work. ( Tales of the Expected , Deaf In Venice , Shakespeare In Hove , et cetera.) Last popped up in 2005. Mornington Crescent The Great Game. Any attempt to explain the rules would be redundant and patronizing , but it is worth mentioning that the teams frequently play with special rules or regional variations (such as scrundling being disallowed, or a penalty introduced for leapfrogging). This has led some expert players to dismiss them as amateurs for not playing by the original rules — the teams have responded to this by saying that they find the intricacies of the variations to be of greater priority than a puritan attitude. Nevertheless, they have complied occasionally by playing the original game. As such a tradition could never die, it is still played nowadays. ...Well, alright, it's an absolute load of wahooney consisting of the teams naming random stations on the London Underground and arguing vividly about made-up rules. That doesn't stop the fans from playing it themselves, though.

Name That Barcode The chairman reads a barcode aloud (such as "thick white, thick black, thin white, thin white, thin black, thick white") and the panellists give humorous suggestions as to what it can be. Only played once. Name That Motorway The panellists hear the sound of a motorway, and guess which one it is. Other variations include Name That Novellist (where the panellists hear a few seconds of somebody typing on a typewriter), Name Those Roadworks, Name That Pause and the most extreme of all — Name That Silence. Notes And Queries The chairman asks a question to one of the panellists. They suggest a possible answer, the chairman gives the real answer, and so on. Usually, after everyone's had a go, the rest of the questions are free-for-all, where anyone may give their answer. Sometimes played under the name Household Hints. "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer : At the more ridiculous questions, Humph would insist they were all "out of a real book". One Song To The Tune Of Another This can be a bit complicated, so listen carefully...a song is like a cat.

The music is the cat itself, and the lyrics are the cat's food, nourishing the cat and making it stronger. The cat, or music, will eventually get hungry again, and be filled with new food, or words. And there you have it — One Song To The Tune Of Another. But I know what you're thinking — what about lovesick cats? We've all heard alley cats crooning an object of their affection, and what noise could possibly be worse than some lovesick mongrel yowling behind the dustbins? ... At the piano, Colin Sell! Or, in other words, one song is sung to the tune of another. It was the first game ever played on Clue, and is still played every other episode. Opera Time Panellists take a bland piece of prose (recipes, scripts, extracts from scouting manuals) and turn it into an operatic duet. Played well into the eighties, but not around anymore. Paranoia One team suffers from a delusion or complaint, but don't know what it is. The delusion is broadcast to the audience and the other team via the laser display board, and the team with the delusion have to ask the other team questions.

The other team has to respond in a manner appropriate to the first team's delusion, until the first team manage to guess what it is. This has a variation in the Doctors game, which is basically vice versa — the team with the problem know what their problem is, and the other team pose as doctors trying to diagnose them. The team with the problem answer in a manner appropriate to their problem. This version is still sometimes played. One episode featured another variation, Scandals, where one team played the part of two people invited onto a chat show to discuss a recent scandal they were involved in. The other team, playing the part of the hosts, were aware of the scandal, and the first team had to guess what scandal they'd been implicated in. Pick-Up Song Samantha spins some discs on the chairman's gramophone, which a chosen panellist should sing along to. The music then drops out, but the singer continues singing, and if, when the music returns, he's within a midge's semi-quaver from the original, he'll be awarded points ( allegedly ). And points mean prizes, what do points mean? PRI ZES! ...Yes.

The prizes are always some pun, such as the one for "the pet-lover who doesn't want their exotic pet to get lost — this stamped, addressed antelope". Or just silly. ("This week's prize is for the animal lover who wants to keep warm in bed. It's this hot water buffalo.") Still played nearly every other episode. Sound Charades The laser display board shows the title of a work for the audience and one team. The team then performs a small, improvised sketch, typically using a contrived pun or other wordplay. Nowadays, Barry and Graeme make all their sketches about two eccentric Scotsmen, Hamish and Dougal, setting up jokes and puns for each other seamlessly. Still played nowadays. Stars In Their Ears Also known as The Singer And The Song. Panellists sing songs in the style of a famous personality, drawing on accent imitation and impersonations for the humor. Still played occasionally. Straight Face The panellists say one word each, with the goal being not to provoke laughter from the audience. (The chairman often mentions how they've been training a lot for this.) If anyone elicits even the slightest titter from the audience, they're eliminated, and the game goes on until only one remains.

Inherently Funny Words make this round harder than it sounds. (A variation had the panellists saying punchlines to jokes instead of just words.) Still occasionally played. Suitcases One team lists things beginning with a letter randomly chosen by the chairman, with the pretense of packing these things in a suitcase. The other team may challenge if they believe the object wouldn't fit in a suitcase or wouldn't be suitable on holiday. If the chairman upholds the challenge, they take over listing things with a randomly selected letter of their own. Not played nowadays. Swanee-Kazoo The teams play a song using a swanee whistle and a kazoo. (Tim and Graeme always play the swanee whistles, whereas Barry and Tim's guest always play the kazoos — although when Sandi Toksvig stood in for Graeme, Barry had a one-off go at the swanee whistle.) The humor comes from the naturally silly sound of these two instruments (usually described by the chairman as "the cheeky rasp of the kazoo and the smooth ululation of the swanee whistle"). Still played about every second episode. Uxbridge English Dictionary Formerly known as New Definitions, and renamed after a book containing the best definitions.

The panellists say a word, then give a definition of the word, usually by breaking it down into smaller words or making a pun on an already-existing word. (Such as "Impolite: note Imp alight To set fire to a pixie.") Barry will occasionally say a word and define it as how Sean Connery would pronounce something. ("Pastiche: note pasties What Shean Connery eatsh in Cornwall.") Basically, Hurricane of Puns at its maximum. Still played. Word for Word The word disassociation game . One team exchange a random series of words with no connection whatsoever. The other team may challenge if they spot a connection, and if the chairman agrees with the challenge, they take over. Words with a direct connection are usually ignored in favor of words with a roundabout, absurd connection . ("Kangaroo." "Hop." "(buzz) A kangaroo might go to a dance...which, in America, is known as a hop.") Barry has made a habit out of buzzing in on any two words and claiming they were a sixties rock band. Still played.

Tropes: A-M Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable : Humph would usually do this rather subtly, placing — or neglecting to place — emphasis on a word to completely change the meaning of the sentence. Humph: The chairman of Just a Minute is, of course, the irrepressible Nicholas Parsons. I never miss him. Accidental Misnaming : In an episode when Tony Hawks was the guest, Humph pointed out an oddity in the buzzers. Humph: I'll tell you who we haven't had a challenge from...Bill. They've stuck your names on the buzzers here, and it says "Barry", "Graeme", "Tim" and "Bill". Tony: (sullen) Are you trying to tell me I was a late booking? Tim: I hope that's not Bill Bailey from the last series...that'd be really sad. Acquired Error at the Printer : Any round of "Historical Headlines" will feature someone (probably Barry) citing a misprinted headline from The Guardian (which has a reputation for this kind of thing). For example, Barry claimed that The Guardian's headline for the Great Fire of London would have been "London's Burping!".

N-Z Namesake Gag : Coco Chanel, inventor of the popular bedtime drink. No Fair Cheating : In a round of Bedtime Stories (one panellist tells a story, and their team member has to try and play appropriate sound effects, while wearing headphones making them unable to hear the story), Graeme tried to sidestep the rules by making his own sound effects. Tim loudly accused him of being a cheat throughout the rest of the round. Obfuscating Stupidity : Part of Humph's ability to get away with scathing Take Thats and filthy innuendos was his befuddled persona , which managed to simultaneously make the jokes less offensive and more funny. When rounds of Sound Charades get really obvious, the guessing team will usually beat around the bush with lots of humming and stalling.

Question: Who is the current chairman of the radio 4 panel game 'I'm sorry I haven't a clue'?
Answer: Jack Dee